Homemade Chocolate

May 5, 2014

When I was living in Portland there was a farmer’s market around the block from where I worked. Missionary Chocolates, a vegan and gluten-free chocolate company, had a booth at the market and not a week passed where I didn’t try a new flavor. I was always so impressed by the simplicity of the ingredients in these chocolates. In thinking about making a Mother’s Day gift, it dawned on me that, although I’ve made truffles, I had never made solid homemade chocolate.

I was blown away by how easy these are to make; mix coconut oil, cocoa powder (or cacao) and your sweetener of choice and voila. Homemade chocolate. The chocolate can also be roughly chopped into chocolate chips for cookies, melted over ice cream or used for s’mores (all sugar-free, if you chose the stevia route).

WHY THEY’RE HEALTHY// Coconut oil has many health benefits, which you can read about in 5 Reasons to Use Coconut Oil. Raw cacao is loaded with flavonoids, a type of antioxidant compound that may lower your risk of several diseases by destroying free radicals in your cells and tissues. When compared to the antioxidant content of black tea, green tea, and red wine, raw cacao has the highest antioxidant activity and therefore the greatest potential for health benefits. Raw cacao powder is also one of the highest dietary sources of magnesium, the “anti-stress” mineral. This homemade chocolate is vegan, gluten-free and soy-free. They are also lower in sugar than most chocolate bars: one is 100% sugar-free, made with stevia, and the other is absent of refined sugar. //

I chose to pour my liquid chocolate into muffin liners before freezing, but feel free to experiment with different shape containers. I would suggest lining your containers with parchment paper to easily remove once frozen. You could also make an irregular shape (more like chocolate bark) by pouring the liquid chocolate onto a flat sheet of parchment paper before freezing.

I topped the homemade chocolate with a variety of toppings for color and crunch, but feel free to omit for plain chocolate bars.

I’ve made these a few times with the sugar-free recipe. Once, I accidentally made the regular recipe without the vanilla and it was pretty bitter. When I’ve made it correctly, it’s been great! I’ve made it using powdered stevia and truvia granules. The stevia powder had a lot smoother texture. I don’t recommend the truvia. I am on a low-carb diet, and these have been great! I like it best with sea salt sprinkled on top. I can’t wait to try it with the other add-ins after I’ve completed this diet.

Is this recipe stable at room temperature or the chocolate only works when frozen? I mean, I live in a very warm place where coconut oil is constantly liquid. I don’t feel confident about how the texture of the final “chocolate” would be. Should I replace the oil for some kind of butter that doesn’t melt easily?

I made this all in the pot that I melted the coconut oil in rather than pouring into a mixing bowl. I kept it on a low heat and when I mixed the cacao powder in it ended up turning into a thick paste almost like a brownie mixture after a couple of minutes. Does that happen when you do it in the bowl?

I then rolled into balls and froze. They came out perfect. Thanks for the recipe.